Breathe Easy All Year Round
Whether you’re building a new home or renovating an existing one, it’s important to consider ways to create a healthier, drier home.
Ventilation systems are the most effective way to reduce water vapour in your home.
They continuously push out the moisture-laden, stale air, replacing it with fresher, drier air. This is filtered via the roof space before it enters the house, significantly reducing problems like crying windows, mould and mildew, and helping to improve the overall indoor air quality.
Beyond harming a building’s health, poor ventilation can also have a negative effect on the occupants.
According to the international guidelines, the ventilation rate should ideally be between 0.35 – 0.5 ac/h to ensure good indoor air quality. In other words, it’s recommended 35-50% of the total volume of air within a building should be replaced every hour.
You may wonder why a new home would require ventilation. Today’s buildings are constructed and designed to seal in the heat. The purpose of insulation is to slow the rate of heat transfer which makes it much harder for your home to ventilate naturally.
In winter, insulation is designed to help keep you warmer, and assists in temporarily reducing the evidence of dampness and poor air quality. However, over time, moisture, dust, pollen and other contaminants will get trapped in your home and could become an issue for your health and furnishings.
A typical household produces about 12 litres of water a day from cooking, showering and general living. It’s easy to see how excess moisture can build up quickly - and it takes more than the occasional opening of a few windows to dry out a home.
Controlled ventilation is the key to achieve necessary air changes while maintaining an energy-efficient building.
Heat recovery ventilation systems extract the stale air from your home and reclaim energy from it before exhausting it outside. The heat exchanger transfers this energy to the incoming fresh air, which warms or cools the air before delivering it throughout your home.
Our ultimate whole-house balanced heat recovery ventilation system is the DVS® EC Reclaim Plus (Humidity Sensitive). Its two energy-efficient fans continuously work in parallel to improve the air quality, reduce moisture and reclaim energy otherwise lost from your home. The first fan will effortlessly and quietly extract the damp, stale air out of your home while the second fan will draw a constant supply of fresh, filtered air into your home.
The Humidity Sensitive control function ensures your home will only be ventilated with air that will assist in keeping your interior drier, while the energy the heat exchanger has recovered will be re-used.
That means less heating is required to keep your home at the desired temperature, which equates to big savings on your power bill and also benefits the environment.
What about older homes?
The New Zealand Building Code introduced minimum insulation standards in 1978, so most Kiwi houses constructed before then are unlikely to be equipped for our climate.
Houses that are not airtight suit positive pressure systems, which rely on natural air. They gently push the stale, moisture-laden air out of your home and replace it with drier, fresher, filtered air from the roof space, or outside the house.
DVS has been providing ventilation systems for Kiwi homes for more than two decades. Manufactured in New Zealand, our ventilation systems are designed for Kiwi conditions and can be installed in both new and existing homes.
On top of the much-publicised health risks, a damp house is much harder and more expensive to heat. A DVS system costs as little as 8 cents a day to run and you could save money on your heating costs because your home will heat up more quickly.
However, when the winter months fade away and the Kiwi summer comes out of hibernation, many people think there’s no longer a need for ventilation – but it’s quite the opposite!
The DVS summer ventilation system can deliver a continuous supply of fresh, filtered air, drawn from outside the roof space when that area becomes too hot.
This allows you to ventilate your home with fresh air throughout the summer months, without having to leave windows or doors open. This reduces pollen and dust - great for those who suffer from hayfever - as well as insects and noise, enabling you to enjoy a peaceful, constant supply of fresh air, day and night.
About DVS
DVS has more than 20 years’ experience in the domestic ventilation industry and is a leader in the field. Recognised by Asthma NZ and BRANZ appraised, DVS Home Ventilation systems improve the air quality in your home and reduce moisture and condensation. As well as ventilation, DVS offers a range of heating (and cooling) options for your home.
To help keep your home healthy all year round, get started with a free, no-obligation consultation by calling
0800 DVS DVS (387 387) or head to dvs.co.nz